How many drinks are one too many under Alberta’s new drunk driving law?
Posted Dec 10, 2011 7:47 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
With Alberta on the verge of effectively making .05 the new legal limit for drunk driving, how much is too much for that patron at the bar, pub or dinner table?
According to Andrew Murie, the CEO with MADD Canada, if you have one standard drink — that includes a 12-ounce bottle of beer — then there shouldn’t be a problem.
But if that beer is a pint or schooner, Murie tells the Calgary Herald you’re toying with danger.
Other combinations where you shouldn’t have to worry — unless you’re a petite 80 pounds — includes a five-ounce glass of wine with 15 per cent alcohol content or 1.5 ounce shot of hard liquor.
Where it gets tricky is the size of that glass of wine. Instead of 5 ounces, at some bistros that glass can be as much as 9 ounces.
Food consumption also has a bearing on what you blow and ironically so does your sex.
Murie says woman are far more at risk for blowing over. Genetically they have more body fat which absorbs more alcohol compared to a muscular man of the same weight.
The bottom line: one is the limit. Anything more and you’re toying with a three-day driving suspension and the impoundment of your vehicle.
